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Community Supported Agriculture and Fruit Trees
After a couple of attempts a few years ago in which a handful of people engaged in some discussion, tonights meeting was attended by 24 energetic people, with untold skills, passion, commitment, and who either knew of or had access to resources to help establish a Community Suppoorted Agriculture (CSA) project on Waiheke.
So sorry I didnt take pictures of the group, so you'll have to imagine a big rectangle of tables 3 down each side and 2 across the ends, with every space taken, and half filling the modest Adult Education room of the High School. The evening was characterised by great energy, urgency, generosity, humour, respect and honesty.
We talked about the food we currently know is being grown on the island. A brief description was offered of how a CSA works. As we began to look from the idea of cultivating large tracts of land for growing annual grains and vegetables, we began lookiong at the huge numbers of fruit trees we have as well as the 20,000 fruit trees we are aiming to see planted over the next ten years.
Conversation moved to actions we could take now with what we have.
- An idea was suggested that we use the existing resource of trees all over the island and create a database of them, then manage them as a virtual orchard. Instead of a mortgage on the land the payback/cost would be managed via agreements with the land owners.
- This could give us an opportunity to explore a CSA model without having to go and find land and growers and all the commitment that involves. It is a chance to learnt to walk before we run, and create a success which we can build on.
The results were:
- A private orchard with 1200 fruit trees, most of which are not being cared for or harvested was opened up (by its owner) as an offering to the community where contributions of time and energy would be exchanged for fruit.
- A pruning event at the orchard was set for Monday afternoon (Sep 1st)
- Another group of about 6 people offered to work in support of Ken Clark who said he would assume a leadership role for the management of this new orchard.
- A group of 6 people stepped up to form a core group to spearhead the CSA planning and coordinating
DRAFT MINUTES. WAIHEKE
DRAFT MINUTES.
WAIHEKE COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE MEETING (CSA)
28 August 2008.
Venue: Community Education Centre Waiheke High School.
THE MEETING. There were 25 people present. Apologies were received from a number of others who wished to be kept informed and/or involved. Those present were from a variety of backgrounds and possessed a wide range of skills. They all had a shared interest in growing food. All 25 briefly introduced themselves. It soon became obvious that there was overwhelming support for the objective of Waiheke growing its own fruit and veges.
WAIHEKE LAND. There was discussion about Waiheke's suitabilty. It was thought that there would be no difficulty finding sufficient suitable land. Matching land with appropriate crops would be a way of overcoming variations in land quality (eg soil type, aspect and slope etc) Land could be gifted rather than purchased. It was agreed that making the land secure and controlling access to it might be an issue in order to prevent damage and loss. Educating people and publicising projects and getting large numbers involved would however be a way of minimising such problems.
PEOPLE RESOURCE. The most important resource will be people. Most of the work would be done by local people irrespective of their skill levels but WOOFERS etc could also be employed. A number of qualified gardening/farming supervisors would be needed to take charge of the various programmes and to train other participants.
FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS. There was discussion on the financial implications of likely projects. Farming and gardening supervisors would need to be paid, whether part or full time. Achieving a self sufficient financial structure was considered desirable - ie whereas ‘seeding' funding might be needed to start with (from grants or loans etc) eventually the programmes would become completely financially supported by the participants.
THE COLVILLE EXAMPLE. There is a CSA project at Colville. Six years ago Claire Mummery carried out a six month feasibility study on the scheme. It developed into a commercial box system with the produce grown on 3 acres of land provided for the purpose. Claire told us that the scheme was probably ahead of its time - but it is still operating. This experience for Claire was a valuable learning curve and she has access to information about the scheme from the Colville Social Services Trust. Later on in the meeting reference was made to another excellent CSA example currently operating in the Wairarapa.
A VIRTUAL ORCHARD. Discussion moved on to fruit trees. There are a large number of unused or under used fruit trees on the island. James suggested that we should record the location and type of each of these unproductive fruit trees on a database and so create a ‘virtual orchard.' We could advertise in local papers for information about suitable trees. A large number of unproductive fruit trees is located at Waiheke Fresh Produce Farm.on the Man O War Bay Road. Margaret Bell of Waiheke Fresh Food Produce offered these trees (except for some productive plum and mandarine trees) for use in the ‘virtual orchard' project.
TREE PRUNING. The focus of most of meeting from this point on was how to take advantage of Margaret's offer. Pruning of the trees was needed and Ken Clark undertook to coordinate this. Because we are now at the end of the pruning season it was agreed that it would be possible to do only limited pruning of the trees at this time. Monday afternoon Sept 1st was decided upon as time to make a start with the pruning. A number of people undertook to help Ken with this task.
FRUIT TREE COORDINATION. A coordinating group was set up to take charge of the ‘virtual orchard' fruit tree project in general. The names of those who volunteered to be a part of this group are listed below.
There is an advantage in starting with the ‘virtual orchard' fruit tree initiative because the necessary resource (the fruit trees themselves) is already in place. It was agreed that the programme - though involving only fruit production - could be based on existing CSA models such as the Wairarapa one mentioned above. Funding could be sought in order to get the project underway. A manager could be appointed to set up the fruit tree database and take charge of and train a work team. The work team/teams would then have the job of caring for the trees on the database. The fruit could be distributed using a cooperative structure similar to the organic cooperatives already operating on the island. The Ostend market could also be used for selling fruit in season. A way should be found of integrating appropriate Waiheke businesses into this structure.
FOOD PRODUCTION IN GENERAL. The last part of the meeting was spent discussing local food production more generally. It was felt that it would be a shame not to make full use of the interest, energy and skills on offer at the August 28 meeting. It was agreed therefore to set up a steering committee to look into the ways and means of implementing a more broadly focussed food production programme on Waiheke. This steering committee was also given the task of convening a further public meeting as a follow up to the one held on August 28. The names of those on the steering committee are listed below. Meriel Watts offered to provide a liaison between the steering committee and the ‘virtual orchard' group.
Orchard Group: Sally Lumsden and Graeme Johnson (6211), Lloyd and Roz Canham (8664), Sue Pockett (4005), Meriel Watts and Jo Davies (2034), Theresa Grantham (6563), Simon Thomson (6818), Fiona Baker ( 3393), and Jo Woodward (5394).
Steering Committee: Claire Mummery (4133), Eleanor Bauarschi (6779), Meriel Watts (2034), Brian Griffiths (7662), Graeme Johnson (6211), Lloyd Canham (8664) and James Samuel (8737)
Brian Griffiths